The Meals Security and Requirements Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed introducing red-coloured hexagonal warning labels on packaged meals merchandise excessive in sugar, saturated fats and salt.
The proposal was positioned earlier than a Supreme Courtroom Bench on Friday by means of a six-page compliance affidavit, filed in a Public Curiosity Litigation searching for necessary front-of-pack warning labels for packaged meals excessive in fats, sugar and salt.
The FSSAI stated the proposed labels can be in pictorial kind and designed to offer customers with a “easy, outstanding and simply understandable warning” about merchandise excessive in specified vitamins of concern.
Beneath the proposal, a crimson hexagonal warning label can be displayed on merchandise which are excessive in any two or extra of the desired vitamins : added saturated fats, added sugar and salt. The thresholds can be primarily based on the Dietary Pointers for Indians, 2024, issued by the ICMR-Nationwide Institute of Diet.
The warning would carry declarations equivalent to “Excessive Fats”, “Excessive Sugar”, “Excessive Salt” and “Extremely Sweetened Beverage”, relying on the composition of the product.
The FSSAI has proposed that the warning be displayed in a font measurement one level bigger than the font used within the vitamin data desk on the again of the pack, making it extra outstanding for customers.
Two-phase implementation proposed
The regulator has proposed a two-phase implementation of the FoP warning system, saying the strategy would give the meals business ample time for reformulation whereas making certain that buyers’ proper to data is just not compromised.
In Part I, merchandise excessive in two or extra specified vitamins, together with specified sweetened drinks, would come inside the warning regime.
In Part II, the requirement can be prolonged to merchandise excessive in any one of many specified vitamins.
The FSSAI stated the proposed mechanism was meant significantly to facilitate knowledgeable meals decisions amongst kids and different susceptible sections of the inhabitants.
Exemptions for meals inherently wealthy in fats, sugar/salt
The proposed FoP requirement wouldn’t apply to single-ingredient meals merchandise or meals which are inherently wealthy in fats, sugar or salt.
The affidavit particularly refers to merchandise equivalent to ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey. These merchandise, nevertheless, would proceed to be ruled by different necessities underneath the relevant meals security and labelling laws.
FSSAI motion comes after Supreme Courtroom’s rap
The FSSAI has retracted from its earlier determination in opposition to imposing warning labels a fortnight after the Supreme Courtroom had questioned the regulator’s failure to introduce interpretive FoP labels that might clearly point out the degrees of sugar, salt and saturated fats in packaged meals.
The Bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Ok Vinod Chandran had criticised the FSSAI for its departure from an earlier place taken through the consultative course of, when the regulator had favoured an interpretive labelling system over a extra advanced vitamin desk. As a substitute of warning labels, the FSSAI proposed displaying the each day advisable limits for added sugar, added saturated fats and salt in a pictorial format primarily based on the 2024 ICMR–NIN Dietary Pointers for Indians. This was not appreciated by the Courtroom, as such data is just not simply relatable to the frequent folks. The bench had requested if the FSSAI was succumbing to the strain from the meals business.
The Bench additionally questioned the Union’s stand that worldwide requirements can’t be utilized right here, asking if India ought to stay underdeveloped. The Bench significantly shared its issues over the well being of kids, who’re almost definitely to be interested in such packaged meals gadgets.
Stressing that residents’ well being was essential, the Courtroom had requested the authorities to provide you with a correct laws, warning {that a} judicial order can be handed in the event that they failed.
The event came about within the PIL filed by 3S And Our Well being Society.
Case Particulars: 3S AND OUR HEALTH SOCIETY v UNION OF INDIA AND ANR|15 MA 1177/2025 in W.P.(C) No. 437/2024
